


fallen dragon, rising phoenix

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: tumblr prompts/ask game answers [10]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Kwami Swap, PLAGG NO, Podfic Welcome, Serious Injuries, also temporarily, blink and you'll miss it temporary character death, dragon!Adrien, possessive Plagg, snake!marinette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-24 23:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22166584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: "This might have been a mistake,“ Marinette whispers to herself, clicking her bracelet backwards frantically and letting out a sigh of relief when Triple Dragon is back at her side instead of charging recklessly forward.He’s already starting to charge again, but this time around she catches him before he can build up any momentum.She tries to ignore the chill down her spine that whispers she’d used her Second Chance too late in the fight.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: tumblr prompts/ask game answers [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1478756
Comments: 27
Kudos: 327





	fallen dragon, rising phoenix

**Author's Note:**

> for anonymous on a tumblr ask meme: on the edge of consciousness, Snake!Marinette and Dragon!Adrien

"This might have been a mistake,“ Marinette whispers to herself, clicking her bracelet backwards frantically and letting out a sigh of relief when Triple Dragon is back at her side instead of charging recklessly forward. 

He’s already starting to charge again, but this time around she catches him before he can build up any momentum. 

She tries to ignore the chill down her spine that whispers she’d used her Second Chance too late in the fight. 

Marinette’s still not used to Second Chance. She _can’t_ use Lucky Charm right away, she has to figure out what it’s _for_ first, but she’d mistakenly thought that all her experience with Ladybug’s powers had better suited her for Sidewinder’s. 

That isn’t proving even a little bit true.

“What is it?” Triple Dragon leans in closer to her, eyes flashing in a way that reminds her how sure she is that he’s actually Chat Noir. 

She wonders if _he_ knows where Plagg and Tikki are right now. 

The split second of distraction wondering costs her also costs her grip on Triple Dragon, and the way he dives in front of a blast meant for her makes her _certain_ that he’s Chat even as she twists time backwards again. 

Second Chance requires a lot of precise attention at exactly the right time, and while Marinette knows that she can do that- she _has_ done that- she can’t focus on how to use it when she’s worried about her kwami and her partner and the way that Triple Dragon is trying to block an attack with his whole body _again_ before she resets time, _again_. 

This time she grabs him by the collar and drags him backwards, _away_ from the battle, and takes shelter behind the nearest cafe. 

At least people have actually evacuated the area. That part’s a nice change. She doesn’t know if it’s because they have faith that Miracle will fix things or if Paris is just getting too jaded now, but usually there’s still several stubborn civilians going about their day well within the battle zone. 

“We need an actual plan,” Marinette tells Dragon, just barely biting back the _kitty_ that wants to tack itself onto the end of her sentence. She doesn’t have proof that he’s Chat Noir. She shouldn’t give him proof that she’s Ladybug. 

Though he hasn’t once asked about their hero selves not showing up, so she thinks he probably knows. 

He definitely grins at her like Chat. “Here I thought that _you_ had the plan." 

"I’ve got more of a plan than throwing myself directly into danger." She tries to glare at him, but even she can tell it’s weakened by worry. 

She’s never thought she wouldn’t be able to find Tikki during an akuma attack. Tikki wouldn’t do that, not if she could help it. There’d been Kwami Buster, but even then it wasn’t like they didn’t know where their kwami _were_ the whole time. Even with Feast, they'd at least had Fu's notes. This time there's _nothing_. 

Marinette’s been carefully keeping her hands from her earrings, not wanting to draw attention to them, but the fact that she still _has_ them is the only thing keeping her from outright panic. 

She doesn’t consciously check Dragon’s hand for a ring. That doesn’t stop her noticing the one he’s wearing anyway.

(It looks different, like this, and she wonders if it’s usually golden when he’s not transformed). 

Triple Dragon keeps shooting the same scanning, worried glances around the area that she does. If Marinette’s been hovering a breath away from panic ever since realising Tikki was nowhere to be found, then Chat Noir’s probably feeling the same way. 

Tikki must be frantic, too. 

There’s another conclusion trying to compete for Marinette’s attention, but before she can get there it’s illustrated in the worst way possible.

When the pavement cracks under their feet, Marinette spins her bracelet back, cursing when she immediately has to grab Dragon and bolt for safety _yet again_. She has no idea how Adrien or Luka _did_ this. 

She jumps over the pavement before it cracks this time, only to stumble as the crack spiderwebs wildly out and overtakes most of the empty plaza in the time it takes for her to blink. 

She just barely manages to use Second Chance before the building comes down on them both. 

She finds a different building to shelter them both, aiming higher this time, but the roof tiles shatter beneath their feet just as she touches down. Marinette almost turns back time in another panicked reaction, but this time Dragon’s already turned to mist and darted ahead and she launches herself across the alleyway after him in time. 

In what would be time, if that building weren’t crumbling too. 

Triple Dragon rematerializes, eyes wide as he stares out across the city, and stumbles into her as she lands and the roof begins to slide in three different directions. 

It’s as he’s wrapping his arms around her shoulders, sheltering her rather than turning back to mist or wind or water, that Marinette finally places what’s happening and her heart leaps and falls in the same breath. 

She hadn’t thought about how _Plagg_ would react. 

She’s seen Plagg use the barest trace of Cataclysm only once before, and she knows how destructive it is even when he’s careful. Tikki’s impressed on her how dangerous it is for Plagg to use Cataclysm on his own. Marinette’s only ever seen him try it the once- even in situations where it might have helped, she hasn’t seen him use it again. Tikki’s admitted to talking him out of it a few times, and Plagg listens to her. 

If Tikki and Plagg are together, then Tikki must not have stopped him this time.

She’s known how attached she and Chat both are to their kwami. 

She hadn’t thought about how attached their kwami are to _them_. 

When they fall off the building, Dragon blocks the worst of the debris with his body, grunting as bricks and tiles rain down around them. 

Marinette shoves at him, alarm setting her nerves on fire when he hisses and lets out a wet cough. "You should have used your powers!" 

The grin he gives her is bloody, tired, and _all Chat_. "Then I wouldn’t be able to protect you." He coughs again, and the sound of it is wet and harsh and awful. "My lady." 

Marinette opens her mouth, not knowing what exactly she’s going to say to that, and the rest of the building falls in on them. 

She cries out, trying to shove at Chat Noir, _trying_ to get him away from the worst of the danger, but he wraps himself around her tighter and won’t let go. He rolls with her once when she tries to dodge (there’s nowhere to dodge _to_ ), but he doesn’t stop shielding her. 

She doesn’t have Tikki. 

There’s not going to be any Miracle this time. 

That’s the last thought she’s entirely conscious of, because despite Dragon- Chat’s- best attempts, when the pavement yawns open wide beneath them and sends them tumbling far below the streets and into the catacombs, Marinette’s head strikes something hard and then she’s not aware of anything but a warm and infinite darkness for a long time. 

Just before she loses her grip on reality, she could _swear_ she hears a familiar voice shout, "Lucky Charm!” from somewhere very close by.

When she comes to, she comes to slowly.

The first thing she’s aware of is Chat’s steady breathing against her, his arms still holding tight around her, and the relief that seizes her is so strong that it seizes control of her lungs for a terrible moment. Marinette chokes, her fear feeling like something physical lodged just behind her teeth, and lets out an explosive breath when Chat mumbles something. 

It’s not exactly _words_ , but he’s at least okay enough to try. 

(They are _not_ okay). 

Marinette levers herself up, gentle as she supports Dragon and slides out of his arms at the same time, and he stirs a little more. 

Green eyes blink slowly open, dazed as they blink at her. “M'lady?”

He slurs even those words, before exploding into wracking coughs. 

Marinette draws back at first, afraid to interfere for fear of making things worse, but when Dragon keeps coughing she presses closer to him again. 

They both have head wounds, and there’s a frighteningly high chance he has bruised or broken ribs or worse, and there’s no Miraculous Cure. There’s no way for her to set things right. 

She’s gotten so used to being able to set things right. 

“Ch- Dragon,” Marinette whispers, and though his eyes are cloudy they at least _try_ to focus on her. 

There’s scant light shining in on them at an angle, somewhere in the broken bits of Paris scattered all around them. The sunlight slashes across Dragon’s face, leaving highlights where it touches his hair, leaving Marinette cold when one of his pupils doesn’t react to the light at all.

He lets out a chirp and buries his head in her shoulder, clinging tightly. 

Marinette doesn’t have a Miracle now, and Second Chance won’t take them back far enough for this.

Marinette clings back just as hard, closes her eyes, and waits. 

She thinks, later, that they might not actually have survived that. That’s not a comfortable idea, but she knows Miraculous Cure has brought people back from the dead before. She doesn’t like to think about it, but it’s definitely happened. 

She never expected to be one of the people brought back. 

When Marinette wakes up again, it’s somewhere warm and sunny. She has a bad moment of silent panic when she realises Dragon’s arms are gone from around her, but when she bolts up she discovers him beside her. 

He’s not the only one beside her. 

She expected their rescuers to still be transformed, but apparently Plagg at least had other ideas. 

Nino regards her with a look she can’t quite read. It’s definitely not _happy_ , but she can’t tell what else his expression might be hiding. 

“I’d really, super prefer if you never did that again, dudes." Nino sounds so tired. Marinette wonders how long the battle ran without them. 

Dragon stirs, letting out little unhappy noises as he does, and Plagg zips from the brim of Nino’s hat straight to his chosen. 

That starts Marinette looking frantically around for Tikki. Plagg’s here, and _someone_ used Miraculous Cure- Tikki has to be here.

But she doesn’t see anyone else. 

” _Whoa_ ,“ Nino says, reaching for Marinette and steadying her as she tries to sit up too fast. "Careful, dude, you took- you took some pretty bad hits." He swallows, hard, and his eyes definitely flick to her earrings for a second before he starts to help her up. 

As soon as she’s steady, Nino turns to Triple Dragon, but he doesn’t reach out immediately like he did with her. Instead he says, "Plagg? Alright if I give you a hand, little dude?" 

Marinette looks. Plagg is latched onto the collar of Triple Dragon’s suit, his claws hooked through it in a way Marinette doesn’t think anything else can do. He looks like he wouldn’t move for all the Camembert in the world. 

"Kid’s still out of it,” Plagg says, hunkering down impossibly further. “Your partner around for another Cure?" He flicks a glance at Marinette. "Or ready to give Tikki back?" 

Marinette feels her eyes go wide, fixed on Plagg and Dragon. 

What if Tikki doesn’t _want_ her back? What if Marinette’s the reason their kwami had vanished in the first place? What if-

"I brought water,” that same familiar voice announces, far too cheerfully. “And I brought your kwami! Tikki, right?" 

"Yes, Rose." There’s an anxious current in Tikki’s voice, but she still sounds as warm as ever. "Thank you for your help, but I really need to return to Ladybug now." 

Rose. _Rose?_ Nino, Marinette understands. She’d chosen him for Carapace for a reason, after all. Rose- Rose is a wonderful person, too, but Marinette can’t fathom how Tikki had ended up with her. 

Tikki’s hovering in front of her eyes before she can unravel that mystery, and honestly now that her kwami’s back Marinette can’t keep her attention on Rose anyway. 

” _Tikki-_ “ Marinette’s hands come up to cup her kwami without her willing them to. "Tikki, I was so worried!" 

"Me too,” Tikki breathes, nestling further into Marinette’s hold and blinking up at her. “We need to transform, Ladybug. Rose doesn’t have enough experience for her Miraculous Cure to fix this." 

That’s… not something Marinette knew about before. 

She glances over at Dragon, who’s still very out of it but starting to respond to Plagg. (Plagg does look guilty, but she thinks that’s only about his chosen, not about the city).

She needs to know what kept their kwami from them. She needs to be sure it can’t happen again. 

She needs to put everything back to rights, before she can do that.

Rose and Nino, thankfully, don’t take any convincing to retreat and give her space to detransform and retransform. She almost doesn’t want to leave Chat Noir- _Triple Dragon_ , right now- to do it, but Plagg is guarding Chat so possessively, _and_ just demonstrated so vividly how much he’ll fight losing him, that she can’t justify risking her identity by staying in line of sight. 

She still doesn’t go far.

Rose might be inexperienced, but Marinette has more than enough power behind _her_ Miraculous Cure to heal Paris. 

She doesn’t have to tell anyone that she was more worried about healing _Chat_. 

Though when they regroup, this time with Marinette as Ladybug, she doesn’t miss Nino’s raised eyebrows or Rose’s soft giggling. 

She also doesn’t pay either much attention, because Dragon is back on his feet and giving her a familiar grin. 

Marinette doesn’t remember throwing her arms around him, but he’s staggering under her weight and laughing under his breath, Plagg letting out little snickers of his own where he’s crouched on his shoulder, and Marinette hits Triple Dragon lightly and says, "Don’t _scare_ us like that, minou." 

"No promises,” he promises, leaning into her hug with a purr that probably shouldn’t transfer to this transformation, and all Marinette can do is hold him tighter and hope like hell she can keep this from ever happening again.

**Author's Note:**

> tikki at least definitely grabbed whoever was closest in order to get here, plagg _might_ have tried for nino specifically


End file.
